Tag Archives: Wenn Du Jemanden Brauchst

We recently featured The Beatles Complete On Ukulele as a member’s choice (actually my own webmaster’s choice on my birthday!) and were delighted when German musician, Christian Jahl, agreed to write us this guest article about his experience working on the project and his music. Jeanette

I joined the project in 2009 after listening to a radio show about David Barratt´s idea of producing each Beatles track newly with the uke as lead instrument. That sounded so weird to me that I got in touch with David via mail. After he had heard my music, we got on well together and so I started recording Wenn Du Jemanden Brauchst. That version from the video footage was recorded in my hometown Düsseldorf, which you might know as the city where the German pop avant-garde band Kraftwerk comes from, and New York. David got my tracks with guitars, Wurlitzer and vocals and he and Roger [Greenawalt] added uke, bass and some of the effects. So, that’s what I call a real long distance production. I played all instrumental tracks and sung all vocal tracks.

Why did you pick If I Needed Someone? Was it a particular favourite song?

George Harrison has always been such an inspiration to me, his character and his way of seeing things in general. So I picked up one of his beautiful songs, with a melody that is really catchy and in some strange way “endless”. I listened endlessly to If I Needed Someone when I was a teen. Everybody used to ask me why I was listening to that “old crap”. Harrison was also the one who led me to the ukulele. Once he said, he always had a uke on him to be able to play wherever he was. That sounded reasonable to me. This instrument is like a little orchestra in your pocket, wow!! I always enjoy playing it and am happy about the renaissance it has experienced lately.Read the rest of this entry »